COLUMBUS — More sex buyers are being arrested and prosecuted in Ohio, but jail time and fines remain minimal, and a mandate that offenders attend “john school” is inconsistently enforced, according to a new report released Tuesday by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

“The Drivers of Demand,” commissioned internally by Yost, provides a first-ever look at sex buyers arrested in Ohio and the criminal consequences they have faced.

“For far too long, victims bore the blame for sex trafficking,” Yost said. “But that blame really belongs to sex buyers – they’re the ones fueling the illicit trade. Without the demand, sex trafficking doesn’t exist.”

Reducing the demand for commercial sex has been a core priority for Yost throughout his tenure as attorney general.

His office played a leading role in pushing for the passage of House Bill 431, which, effective in 2021, established a criminal charge specifically for sex buyers (“engaging in prostitution”), stiffened penalties for sex buyers, and required those convicted of the charge to attend an educational program – or “john school.”

The report summarizes the case outcomes of more than 1,800 individuals arrested on charges of buying sex in Ohio from 2019, the beginning of Yost’s tenure, through 2025.

Many of the charges stemmed from the work of regional human trafficking task forces and statewide sweeps organized under the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, an arm of Yost’s office.

Most recently, Operation Spring Cleaning yielded 122 arrests of people seeking to buy sex.

Key findings

Among the report’s key findings:

Arrests and prosecutions of sex buyers have increased greatly since 2021.
Sentencing for sex buyers increased over time, but jail time and fines remain minimal.
Human trafficking task forces effectively identify and apprehend sex buyers.
Patterns of amended or reduced charges suggest that case resolution is prioritized over maximum penalties for offenders.
“John school” attendance is inconsistently enforced and tracked.
Gaps in public records and a lack of standardized criminal reporting practices limit the state’s ability to glean a full and accurate picture of sex buyers in Ohio.

Yost requested the analysis from his Human Trafficking Initiative team to assess the impact of House Bill 431 and provide a statewide baseline to help inform future efforts to combat the scourge of sex trafficking in Ohio.

“Facts yield patterns,” he said, “and in patterns there are solutions.”

The full report can be accessed here.